Farnborough 1 Arsenal 5 (played at Highbury)
It's probably a close call what Farnborough Town enjoyed more…their 'day out' at Highbury or the £500,000-plus the club banked from the occasion. It's a cast-iron certainty that they will not have enjoyed the master-class they had to endure as Arsenal duly emphasised the gulf in class, being separated by 102 places in the football hierarchy, with a 5-1 mauling of the Conference side.
Farnborough's onerous task was made even more difficult with the sending-off of Chris Lee, for pulling Francis Jeffers back by his shirt, in the 28th minute, but they were already 2-0 down to goals from Campbell and Jeffers. The Arsenal players, their credit, tried to dissuade the referee from brandishing a red card but Alan Wiley applied the letter of the law when the spirit of the occasion would have been more appropriate.
Jeffers made it 3-0 before Farnborough earned the biggest cheer of the day with their consolation goal, on 71 minutes. Rocky Baptiste turned Cygan to shoot goalwards and when Stuart Taylor blocked, but could not hold the ball, the Town striker reacted quickly to dig the ball out and send it looping into the back of the net. Baptiste said afterwards: "When I looked up into the crowd it was unbelievable. Even the Arsenal fans were happy that I had scored."
Joy was, however, brief as Bergkamp readjusted his stride, as only he can, to tap home a cross from Van Bronckhorst, three minutes after Farnborough's goal. Lauren completed the rout, 11 minutes from time to make it 5-1 and send the Conference side back home richer, financially, for the experience of having trod the same turf as the superstars who have got a much better chance of figuring in the Cardiff final than they ever had.
So, to the media pundits who still take up column inches decrying the decision to switch the game, get real and don't begrudge the players their moment.
After the dream was shattered in the Highbury sunshine Farnborough manager Graham Westley was philosophical in his reflections. He said: "I am proud of them all. Arsenal treated us a lot more kindly than I thought they would. It was a fantastic occasion and the lads loved every minute of it. I am so glad we got a goal, Rocky deserved it."
Norwich City 1 Dagenham & Redbridge 0The Daggers were just seconds from a deserved replay when fate struck a cruel blow that send them tumbling out of the competition they have lit up in recent seasons. Adam Drury drove down the left flank and hit a cross shot that Tony Roberts could only parry into the path of Zema Abbey and the Norwich substitute slid the ball into the empty goal.
Abbey summed up the desolation that the Conference side must have endured in the aftermath of defeat and said: "I was picked up from a non-league club myself and my heart goes out to the Dagenham guys. If I was still in their shoes I would be absolutely devastated."
It was particularly hard for Tony Roberts to take as the former Welsh international had kept the First Division high-fliers at bay with a series of great saves. They even had a great chance to have taken the lead, early in the second half when Steve West rose, unopposed, at the far post. But his header went agonisingly wide of an inviting target.
Only three non-league sides have ever graced the Fifth Round of the FA Cup and Dagenham, so cruelly robbed of league status by Boston United, last season, came within a whisker of making that elite group.
After the game Daggers' boss Gary Hill faced the media with disbelief etched into his face. He said: "I feel gutted and empty. We all know that football can be a cruel game and it certainly was today. I am just stunned. Norwich will be so relieved because anyone could see we clearly deserved a replay."
Shrewsbury 0 Chelsea 4
So lightning did not strike twice and after the Lord Mayor's show of the epic win over Everton, Shrewsbury brought the curtain down on FA Cup weekend with a tame surrender to Chelsea's millionaire players.
The first shock on the day that BBC cameras were enticed to the Gay Meadow was the state of the pitch. You could actually see the grass and that did not bode well for the Third Division side against technically superior opposition. The second shock was the way in which the Premiership side showed a willingness and desire to roll their sleeves up and compete.
Allied to the obvious superiority in ability it was a surprise that Chelsea took so long to make the breakthrough. What wasn't surprising was that it was the little Italian magician Gianfranco Zola who opened the door five minutes short of the break. Up to then Shrews keeper Ian Dunbavin had made a series of saves to keep the game scoreless.
He denied Frank Lampard on three separate occasions and on another occasion, when the ball dropped invitingly to Graeme Le Saux, six yards out with an empty goal ahead of him, the fact that it fell on the forgotten England man's right foot doesn't require further explanation. Suffice it to say that the Channel Islander was grateful that Zola was on hand to side-foot his cross home for a 1-0 half time lead.
After more mesmeric play by Zola, Carlton Cole headed Chelsea's second eight minutes after he came on as a second half substitute and the Premiership side were in cruise control. Zola superbly chipped home, with 15 minutes left, but there was almost a late consolation from Nigel Jemson, two-goal hero of the Third Round win over Everton.
The Shrews skipper hit an excellent free-kick but was denied a goal by Cudicini's brilliant save. A minute later Jody Morris, a second half substitute for Frank Lampard, made it 4-0 to leave Town to concentrate on their upcoming LDV semi-final against Crewe.
After the game Shrewsbury boss Kevin Ratcliffe was magnanimous in his praise, for both sides. He said: "They are a quality side and I've got no complaints with the result, other than we should have scored a goal. We allowed Zola too much space, especially in the first half, and if you do that he'll punish you."
Ratcliffe was happy with what his team gave him though, saying: "All I asked of my lads is that they gave me everything and they did. They worked their socks off until the end of the game. You have to hold your hands up to quality and today we've played against quality and been beaten."
Man of the Match Zola, whilst acknowledging and revelling in the fact he was 'back in business', also praised the Third Division side, as well as giving credit to a more resilient Chelsea side than he'd previously been involved with.
He said: "We have shown that we can play good games week-in, week-out against big teams and small teams. We came here and knew it would be a difficult match. We didn't want to make any mistakes. We had to play our best football because they deserved our respect. We had to give a great performance to beat them."
